UK’s Starmer refuses to say whether he will urge Trump to drop his $1 billion BBC threat – Winnipeg Free Press

LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Keir Starmer refused to say Wednesday whether he would urge U.S. President Donald Trump to back off his threat to sue the BBC for $1 billion over the broadcaster's editing of a speech he gave after losing the 2020 presidential election.

During weekly questioning in the House of Commons, Ed Davey, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, asked Starmer whether he would intervene in the dispute between Trump and the British public broadcaster and rule out the idea of ​​the British people giving money to the US president.

Rather than respond directly, Starmer repeated the government's position as BBC director general Tim Davie announced his resignation on Sunday over the scandal.

“I believe in a strong and independent BBC,” he said. “Some people would prefer the BBC didn't exist, I'm not one of them.”

However, he added that “if mistakes are made, they really need to get their house in order.”

In an interview that aired Tuesday on Fox News, Trump said he intends to follow through on his threat to sue the BBC, a century-old institution under growing pressure in an era of polarized politics and changing media viewing habits.

“I guess I’ll have to,” he said. “Because I think they deceived the public and admitted it.”

The president's lawyer, Alejandro Brito, issued a threat to the BBC over the way a documentary edited his speech on January 6, 2021, before a mob of his followers stormed the US Capitol. The letter demanded an apology to the president and a “full and fair” retraction of the documentary as well as other “false, defamatory, disparaging, misleading or inflammatory statements” about Trump.

If the BBC does not comply by 5pm EST on Friday, Trump will exercise his legal rights, the letter said.